It may seem counter-intuitive to many, but regulated hunting is the reason why deer, turkeys and many other wild life species have made a remarkable resurgence across North America.

just out of interest what is people's views on the hunting in canada? coming from a very anti hunting country i found it difficult to accept it over here but im not so sure now. what does everyone else think? (i can see this being moved to take it outside!!!!!lol)

These threads do have a habit of transforming from emigrating, to Botswana style wildlife safari You just have to take your pick really

Higher, Lower, Higher, Lower, Higher, Lower.....nice 2 see u, to see u......NICE

We are already doing the corn thing...I think thats why the coons are hanging around too, as now the turkeys have breed they are not coming as often so hte coons clean up after them. We have had the odd deer, although i've not seen them, so I'll have to give the alfalfa a go.

Thanks

Iain

Remember, only put out the alfalfa bails in the winter. The deer won't likely bother at any other time of year because they have lots to eat already.

I used to feed 1,500 pound bails of 2nd cut alfalfa to my buffalo, and the deer would take advantage of this in the winter when food was very scarce.

Here's a photo of "buffalo Bill"(my buffalo, on my land, taken by me):

Here's a photo of some Merriam's turkeys on land that I used to own in Alberta. I raised these in a large penned area along with pheasants.

Here's a pic of one of my pheasants:

Thanks for the great pics, those are some cool looking turkeys. Now, I gotta get me a Buffalo, very cool...not sure the wife will approve

Maybe not...not enough space to roam here! There is a guy down the road who keeps ostriches and emus, as well as the odd Lhama. Makes for a surreal sight!

Iain

Another pen-raised pheasant.

At least in Alberta, my buffalo were not considered wildlife, they were like cattle - as far as the law was concerned.

Here's another one of buffalo Bill:

I wanted to mention something regarding the turkeys - don't let the rolled corn get wet. A toxic mold can grow on it if it gets wet. Another thing that you can buy at a feed mill for the turkeys is oyster shell. It is broken up and helps the turkeys grind up the corn, and it's a source of calcium for them. The oyster shell is more important for penned turkeys. The wild ones can eat small stones.

I called this Russian wild boar Iron Mike - cause he was big black and mean.

Baby wild Russian boar posing as I took their photo:

Anyone who has a modest amount of space for a pen can raise wild turkeys - assuming it is legal to do so in your province. It was legal in Alberta, but it might not be elsewhere. They were easy to raise, grew from a chick to a 25 pound bird in about 7 months, and were delicious to eat. They were fascinating to watch as the male turkeys would strut their stuff.

The pheasants were beautiful, but they are harder to raise and the meat is very dry - delicious but I had to be very careful not to over cook it.

Here's a pic of a 2 or 3 week old "plains bison" (I shouldn't call them "buffalo" as the word refers to the "wood buffalo" which is a different species).

The area where this picture was taken was around my motor home. I used to let the bison go in this area to "mow" the grass so I wouldn't have to do it. It worked great, they didn't touch my truck or motor home, but once I had a visitor park in this area who I told his car would be okay in with the bison. We then went into the bush to cut down some trees. When we got back to his car (small white vehicle) the bison had licked and slobbered over every square inch of it as though it was a salt lick!

Another funny thing about the bison, is they would walk right up to the screen door of my motor home and try to peer inside to see what I was up to.